Nero

Nero is the main character of the fourth installment of the Devil May Cry franchise. Little about him is known, but apparently, he was raised in the city of Fortuna as an orphan and taken in by Kyrie and Credo since childhood and grew into young adulthood together. Nero's actual origin still remains unknown but Sanctus makes multiple references to Nero being "a descendant with Sparda's blood". Nero is a sardonic character and doesn't like to be messed with. He wields the Blue Rose, Red Queen, and Devil Bringer. Nero is a Holy Knight in the Order of the Sword, a religious order that worships Sparda and fights to protect the world from demons. He performs "special jobs" for the Order. Nero's rebellious nature leads to the Order making him work alone. Nero actually prefers to act as a lone wolf. Kyrie is the childhood friend of Nero as well as a singer during the Order's ceremonies. He and Kyrie both fall in love some point prior to the beginning of the game. This love plays a major part during the events of Devil May Cry 4.

Plot
At the game's beginning, Nero manages to barely make it to one of Kyrie's performances in time after dealing with a group of demons. He leaves her a gift and then prepares to leave, having grown tired of listening to Sanctus's preaching. Just before he can though, a mysterious man in red bursts in through the glass ceiling during a prayer and slays Sanctus, the leader of the Order.

Before the assassin (who is later revealed to be Dante) can confirm the kill, Credo along with a battalion of knights confront him, but are completely outmatched. Kyrie, seeing as Dante is going to kill her brother, finally escapes Nero's hold on her and runs to them, but is knocked down in the process. Nero, worrying about her, decides to step in the fight, sporting his iconic two-legged kick into Dante's face. The two fight, and Nero is able to beat him and impale him with his own sword on his father's statue. But Dante, being not just a mere mortal, frees himself and jumps down. Nero states that Dante isn't human. He pulls Rebellion out and comments that they're the same, and points out the knights Dante had slain. They turned up to be in fact demons. Confused, Nero watches as Dante flees the scene.

Shortly after Dante flees, Nero is given his sword (Red Queen) by Kyrie on Credo's request. Credo gives an order to him - to pursue mysterious man. Credo also says that witnesses saw him heading to Fortuna Castle. Suddenly, all three feel a stroke and leave the ruined building, only to discover the city's citizens being attacked by demons. While Kyrie and Credo lead the survivors back to headquarters, Nero fights off the remaining demons. When he starts pursuing Dante, but firstly he needs to go through the Fortuna. While going through the city, he sees that demons have totally overrun it and on the outskirts of the city he finds the reason. In small village in the basement of Lamina Peak (where Fortuna Castle is) Nero finds the first Hell Gate and fights its guardian, Berial, The Conquerer of the Fire Hell. After that, Nero heads to Fortuna Castle.

After defeating Berial, Nero makes his way to Fortuna Castle where he meets Gloria, a new member of the Order. While in Fortuna Castle he finds second Hell Gate and fights Bael, a large toad-like demon whose specialty is ice. Nero also stumbles upon secret underground laboratory of the Order, where he meets Agnus, the Order's Chief Alchemist. Agnus reveals that he created the Hell Gates and uses them to summon demons. Demons are needed for their demonic essences, which alchemist uses in his experiments. Agnus also reveals that using this power Sanctus wants to rule the world. Agnus has Nero nearly killed by his Angelos, during which Nero dramatically unleashes his Devil Trigger, gaining a phantom-like appearance. Under this form, Nero managed to resurrect Yamato, the sword of Dante's brother, Vergil.

Nero heads towards The Order's headquarters, believing Credo must know more of what is going on. He crosses the bridge which heads into a cave concealed by the waterfall and finds himself in a forest. He runs into Dante, but the encounter is very brief. Nero fights countless demons within the forest and eventually banishes Echidna, a dragon-like demon who treats the forest as her children (the demons are, at least). After that Nero reaches the Headquarters without other surprises. However, at the entrance he meets Credo. Nero asks who is Dante but Credo shouts that he demands no answers from him. Then he transforms into Angelo and declares that Nero is under arrest from now on. A fight begins. Nero is victorious but Kyrie sees Nero and his demonic arm and is scared, thinking that he was trying to kill Credo (reverted to his human appearance). In all this confusion, Agnus captures Kyrie, revealing Sanctus's desire to use her to get to Nero. Credo is furious but Agnus flies away with Kyrie. Credo puts aside his fight with Nero, for the time being.

While in the Headquarters Nero finds and fights Agnus, but fails to kill him and rescue Kyrie. He continues to pursue him, however, and runs into Dante again, who wants to take Yamato back. Nero refuses and they begin to fight. Despite Nero wielding the Yamato, Dante is able to beat him, though he refuses to kill him. Although Dante wants his brother's sword back, he allows Nero to keep it for now, seeing how he needs it. Nero reveals his name to Dante and leaves.

Nero later finds Sanctus next to a giant statue resembling Sparda, which is called The Savior. Sanctus asks Nero if he wish to surrender himself and form the Savior's core, together with Kyrie. Nero refuses and attempts to rescue his love. He fails and falls into Sanctus's trap, who willingly uses Kyrie for this. Sanctus takes the Yamato from Nero. Suddenly Credo appears, who is enraged because Sanctus used Kyrie. He attacks his ex-boss to help Nero to escape, but is stabbed by Yamato. He falls down but is caught by Dante. He together with Trish witness as Nero is absorbed into the heart of the Savior. The great demon awakens and flies to Fortuna. Credo asks Dante one last request, to save Kyrie and Nero.

Much later Dante, who retrieved Yamato and destroyed all Hell Gates, faces off against the Savior and thrusts Yamato into the core of the statue, awakening Nero and allowing him to escape the heart he was imprisoned in. After completing a number of trials within the Savior, Nero finally finds Sanctus. He asks why Nero betrayed the Order. Nero answers, that Sanctus have done enough of foul deeds to hate him. In this epic confrontation Nero finally defeats Sanctus, but he in his last struggle asks Sparda for power, but is unanswered. He rages and yells why Sparda is refusing to give him the power to kill Nero. Nero explains to Sanctus that although Sparda was a demon he did have a heart, one that could love another person. That is the thing that Sanctus lacks, whose only desire is power. Nero saves Kyrie and kills Sanctus, and they together escape the Savior.

Although it seems the end has come, the Savior transforms into the form of the False Savior, taking on Sanctus's appearance. Nero agrees to fight in Dante's stead. At this moment, Nero seems to apologize to God for despising him for cursing Nero to his fate as a half-demon. Nero destroys the False Savior and accepts who he is as a demon, deciding that although he is a demon, he is not evil. He meets up with Dante who exchange thanks and friendship. Nero tries to return Yamato back to Dante, but he refuses giving it back to Nero. Nero asks Dante if they'll meet again but he just vaguely waves in answer. Kyrie joins Nero and tells that she is happy that the end has come. Nero returns his necklace to her and they nearly kiss, but are interuppted by demons. Nero fights them off while Kyrie waits, agreeing to kiss him later....

Appearance


Nero wears a long blue-purple coat with the Order of the Sword's insignia sewn into both shoulders. He also wears a red zip-up hoodie/vest underneath this coat, and a black muscle-shirt beneath that. Nero wears two rings on his human hand: one on his index finger that has the emblem of the Order of the Sword on its face, and another on his ring finger which has a rose design on its face, identical to the designs on his belt buckle, coat clasp, and coat buttons. He has white hair and blue eyes, similar to Dante and Vergil. In early concept designs, Nero instead wore a double-breasted coat and a white overcoat similar to Credo's.

Devil May Cry 4 emphasizes that Nero has some sort of connection with Sparda, due to the connection he has with the Yamato and his alleged place in the Sparda bloodline. While the exact details of this have yet to be established by Capcom, the Devil May Cry 4 novel contains "hints" that Nero is Vergil's son, and this claim has allegedly been confirmed at "Captivate 2009" by one of the Capcom employees who worked on the game's localization, but this does not seem to fit with the timeline. As well, the novel contains several points that directly contridict DMC4 in information, and was written as a free-lance work after the author had already left Capcom's employ.

Gameplay


Nero has the ability to use Devil Bringer (his right arm resembling that of a devil's), a unique ability for him that allows him to snatch far away enemies and perform supernatural feats of strength. When in use, a disembodied version of the arm briefly appears and imitates the action of Nero. The size of the arm differs on how much focus and energy he puts into it, as displayed during the final battle against False Savior where the arm grows to an enormous size to pulverize the statue's face. In addition, the Devil Bringer can absorb objects or weapons of demonic origin and use the abilities they possess at his leisure. The Devil Bringer also appears to have a connection to Yamato as it was the only thing capable of repairing the Devil Arm completely, which Agnus was unable to do. Unfortunately he does not gain new weapons apart from Yamato. Nero's taunts in a similar sarcastic fashion to Dante; one taunt involves him bowing mockingly and asking, "Shall we dance?", while another has him aiming the Blue Rose at his enemies and saying "Bang!" instead of shooting.

Nero seems to share the demonic ability of being able to instantly heal wounds that would seem fatal to normal humans. This is most explicitly shown in Mission 6, when Nero is impaled by a Bianco Angelo and a Gladius. When the two weapons are removed, he is able to stand (although he's very worn down). After his Devil Trigger deactivates, the wound has healed completely. This is a reference to that fact that the Devil Trigger's ability heals while it's activated.

Nero does seem to be able to fight enemies on a standard level without Red Queen, Blue Rose, and the Devil Bringer. One of his attacks has him do a drop kick on an enemy if he's running fast enough. Nero also demonstrated this in the Prologue of Mission 1 as he was able to take down a large number of Scarecrows without any of his weapons by his side (although he was using a Scarecrows blade as a weapon during this fight).

Nero appears to possess some skill with the Yamato as he is seen firing waves of energy from the blade on several occasions, though this may be a passive ability of Yamato itself which can cut enemies without having the blade to make contact at all. When not in use, the Yamato is assimilated into the Devil Bringer until Nero is ready to use it again.

Nero possesses a Devil Trigger, in which a blue, spectral demon manifests behind him wielding the Yamato; this demon somewhat resembles the Devil Trigger of Vergil due to the "sheath" on its left arm. Nero himself acquires a blue aura, burning red eyes, and a deeper, echoing voice. The specter mimics Neros movements but strangely enough when Nero uses Buster on Angelo Agnus while he's stabbing Gladius into Agnus, the specter is slowly drawing its hand towards Yamato before slicing like Nero does with Showdown. When Nero swings his sword the specter swings Yamato doing a right hand version of Nero's attack. Some of Nero's techniques with the Yamato, usable only in Devil Trigger, allow him to wield the sword itself. In Devil Trigger Nero has two special attacks. The first is called "Showdown" in which Nero unleashes a barrage of slashes with the Yamato as well as some with the Red Queen. After the technique is over he will either say "Ashes to Ashes", or "Dust to Dust". His second attack is called "Maximum Bet". Nero combines Yamato and Red Queen and then slashes twice in an X form sending a fast, blue energy blade in the form of an X at the enemy. The attack can be charged up for more power and a bigger blast but doing this will slow the blast down. The major drawback of these two attacks are that they leave Nero completely open for attack because Nero is charging up energy before unleashing these attacks. For these moves to be successful, they must be done at the right time. It is unknown if the Nero's Devil Trigger will continue to manifest as a detached specter, or will become more similar to other characters' Devil Triggers and allow him to physically become the demon itself.

Trivia

 * Nero is Italian for "Black", the same basis as Nelo Angelo's name. The demonic avatar that appears on Nero's shoulder when he activates Devil Trigger resembles Nelo Angelo, it swings its sword as Vergil does, and when Nero exits Devil Trigger, it places its sword back into its arm-sheath in the same manner as Vergil's Yamato Devil Trigger. Among the words Nero shouts, "Blast" and "Begone" are also words that Vergil shouts while fighting in Devil May Cry 3. Finally, in Japanese, "Nero" and "Nelo" are pronounced the same, as "l" and "r" use the same phonym.
 * The character is voiced and motion captured by Johnny Yong Bosch who played the role of Adam Park, the second Black Ranger in the American adaptation of the Super Sentai franchise, Power Rangers. Similarly, Daniel Southworth who played as Vergil also played the role of a Power Ranger; the Quantom Ranger in Power Rangers Time Force.
 * Stephanie Sheh, Kyrie's voice actor, also plays Inoue Orihime in the anime Bleach. In that same anime, Johnny Yong Bosch, Nero's voice actor, plays Ichigo Kurosaki, the lead protagonist and Inoue's love interest.
 * The Devil May Cry 4 Material Collection Artbook shows that there was a lot of development over Nero's character. It shows several concepts of him, including few in white Order's clothes, a lot of aristocratic-looking ones, and even several very Vergil-like. On most of them Nero is looking slimmer and with different eye color (predominantly yellow) than he is in the game. Also, artbook has several images depicting Nero with full Devil Trigger with wings, but it quickly changes to spectre-like seen in the released game.
 * La Vita Nuova, the final scene's name with Nero and Kyrie, is named after a series of poems written by Dante Alighieri about his endless, admiring love for Beatrice.
 * In earlier publicity art, screenshots and trailers for Devil May Cry 4, Nero's Devil Bringer originally had a golden glow before it was changed to blue.
 * In the entire Devil May Cry series, Nero is the only playable character who uses his sword in his left hand since has Devil Bringer for the right hand. Similar to this are the bosses Rudra and Berial as they also are left-handed with their swords. Despite Nero wielding the sword with his left hand, the demon that appears in his Devil Trigger wields Yamato with its right hand.
 * Nero is one of the few characters in the Devil May Cry series to actually swear. He calls Agnus a "jackass", tells Sanctus to go and blow himself, could say "I'm not interested in your bullshit" in the first battle with Sanctus and gives Dante the finger while saying "Come and get it [Yamato]" before being absorbed by The Savior.
 * In the final battle against Sanctus, if you finish him off with the Devil Bringer while in Devil Trigger, Nero will usually shout "Jackpot!", and the moment of impact will be repeated twice. If not in Devil Trigger, he will only shout "Checkmate!". However, it is possible for opposite scene to randomly play instead.
 * Like Dante and Vergil, Nero has held all three of the swords used by Sparda. Rebellion is used to pin Dante to the statue of Sparda, Yamato is one of Nero's personal weapons by the end of the game and the Sparda sword is taken from Sanctus after he is defeated. Later Nero returned it to Dante.